Guckheim

Guckheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationGuckheim, mainly a residential community with a well-developed club life, lies in the low mountain range of the Westerwald, part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains, roughly 330 m above sea level. The community’s highest point at 657 m above sea level is the Fuchskaute in the northeast Westerwald. Its lowest point at about 150 m above sea level is found in the Gelbachtal Valley between Kirchähr and Dies. The community belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Westerburg, a kind of collective municipality.The Elbbach flows right by Guckheim and empties into the river Lahn near LimburgGeologyAs a legacy of a sea that once covered the area in Devonian times, a great deal of clay underlies Guckheim, having also been quarried for decades in the immediate vicinity. After clay quarrying is finished, affected areas are recultivated. The quarrying leaves typical traces on the land, such as loss of surface vegetation, unsightliness, and recultivation perceived as inadequate, which have been publicly controversial for years in Guckheim. In the past, there has also been limited brown coal mining (first mentioned in documents in 1746, lasted until 1847) and basalt quarrying (until 1928).